Microplastics at our beaches this fall

This Monday my sister and I walked Anastasia beach to the point (inlet). I wanted to check on all the plastic that had washed up on beaches the past few weeks and see where it had all gone. Well, what has not been washed back out to the ocean or buried in the sand’s wrack line has moved to the inlet on the back side of the Anastasia State Park.

I noticed the previous plastic piles from the summer have moved as well or been buried. Now the new plastic has its home. The first pictures are of microplastics just sitting on the sand at the tide line as we walked down. I’m fixated on the colors of the microplastic instead of the beautiful shells. As we approached the point, we stopped and circled out a very small area, about a 24″x12″, and picked out all the plastic in it. You can see there are at least 25 pieces. I added a few scenery photos in the collection, so that you can see how amazingly beautiful it is at the inlet. But, sadly there is a hidden catastrophic problem going on. Tons and tons of microplastics are compiling there.

This is what is in our oceans right here in Northeast Florida. It’s not only in the gyres in the Pacific Ocean, but right here on our coast and water ways.